Family Feuds And Greed
Episode 3 of Flex X Cop starts with a fight scene of Gang-hyun, I-soo, and Tae-sung’s men. Gang-hyun and I-soo may be outnumbered, but they are not out-skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and when they work together, they easily wipe out Tae-sung’s men. Tae-sung tries to make a run for it, but he knocks himself out, and they arrest him.
During questioning with Team 1 of violent crimes, Tae-sung admits that he indeed met with In-a on the yacht, but she got violent when he started getting sexual and pulled his hair. Tae-sung got angry and strangled her but left when he knocked her unconscious. Tae-sung thinks that he did not hurt her enough to kill In-a. About the drugs found on the yacht, Tae-sung tells the detectives that his brother Tae-young secretly does drugs, and the drugs found at the scene must be his.
Just then, Tae-young, CEO of DN Media, and Tae-sung’s brother show up at the police station, and true to Tae-sung’s assumption, Tae-young has drugs on him. The two start to fight, and their older brother, Cheon Tae-jun, Vice President of DN Media, enters the police station, followed by his legal team. The DN Group family dynamics are nothing brotherly as they do not shy from showing hostility towards each other in front of the detectives. I-soo is well versed in his Chaebol knowledge and is the one the detectives look to whenever a new member of the Cheon family walks in.
The story continues to unfold, and Chairman Cheon’s second wife, Tae-sung’s mother, Lee Su-min, the CEO of DN Agent, is the next to show up, and she comes in blazing insults and threats. The detectives seem to have forgotten their ability to recognise people, and in a comedic scene, they look up to I-soo for information when a cleaner walks out of one of the rooms. The following person to show up is Chairman Cheon’s first wife, Cheon Hyeon-ju, the CEO of DN Broadcast. Unlike the rest of the family members, she carries herself with calm and dignity. The detectives sit back, relax, get some popcorn, and enjoy the Cheon family feuds unfolding like a drama.
After interrogating Tae-young, the detectives realise that he has a tendency to get violent after using drugs but forgets everything he has done after he becomes sober. Therefore, their theory is that Tae-young went to the yacht to do drugs as usual. In-a appeared as he said, and he threw her into the ocean. However, she climbed back up, and when he saw her again, he hit her on the head and then left her on the yacht dead. He went home but forgot everything about it when the drugs wore off.
Meanwhile, I-soo uses his advanced knowledge of Chaebol families’ behaviours to investigate the case. According to his deduction, it is understandable that Tae-young and Lee Su-min showed up at the police station when they arrested Tae-sung, but he wonders why Cheon’s first wife and son also showed up. I-soo is convinced that they are missing a crucial clue to the case. On the other hand, Gang-hyun and Jun-young seem to think that Tae-young is the culprit, but they cannot figure out where he killed In-a since there is no spatter blood on the yacht.
It just happens that I-soo saw a crucial clue to the case that the other detectives missed. There is a scratch mark on the boat that he thinks is unusual, so his theory is that In-a was killed on another boat and then dumped where she was found dead. Gang-hyun asks I-soo to go with her to check it out. Kyung-jin joins them and gets the chance to drive I-soo’s boat. True to I-soo’s observation, the boat has a huge scratch mark that seems recent, and Gang-hyun applies for a warrant to check all the boats in the club.
I-soo experiences his share of family feuds, which we see later that night when his stepmother shows up in his house. She tells him that he will be sent away after his father’s election, and she will take back his house and rent it out to her friend. Before leaving, she scatters wine glasses and a compass on the floor that seems to have meaning to I-soo, given his reaction after she leaves. I-soo’s mind is on the murder case, and he asks Jeong-hun if he knows anyone in DN Group since he thinks that killing In-a is not a simple murder case.
The forensic report from In-a’s phone comes out, and the detectives discover that In-a had met with both Tae-jun and Tae-sung. In addition, she died ten days after her mother’s funeral, and Gang-hyun asks Kyung-jin to investigate to see if there is a connection between the two deaths while she and Jun-young visit Tae-jun, but they do not find significant information other than that In-a had met with all the brothers and was trying to have a meeting with the Chairman. I-soo does his digging and finds out that Chairman Cheon is dying of cancer, and the family has been in a silent battle for inheritance for the last six months.
Kyung-jin brings them a break in the case when he finds out that In-a’s mother worked as the Chairman’s assistant at DN group. She gave birth to In-a a few months after quitting her job, which suggests that In-a is Chairman Cheon’s illegitimate daughter. She met the brothers, trying to find a sample for a paternity test. They need the warrant to investigate Tae-jun’s boat, but the team leader refuses to grant Gang-hyun’s request, saying they need more convincing evidence. I-soo offers to explore alone without a warrant since he has members’ access to the yacht club. Gang-hyun reluctantly agrees to let him investigate.
I-soo finds blood stains and a fingerprint on Tae-jun’s yacht, which belongs to the assistant of Chairman Cheon’s first wife. They get the news that Hyeon-ju and her assistant are trying to escape using a private jet, but the detectives cannot follow them by car due to a traffic jam. I-soo ensures they do not run when he and Gang-hyun chase after the culprits in his helicopter.
Tae-jun arrives at the police station after his mother confesses to killing In-a. However, something about his facial expression made I-soo rush to visit Chairman Cheon’s second wife, Su-mi. I-soo seems to have figured everything out that the murderer is Tae-jun, and his mother confessed to protect her son. He also knows that Su-mi was arrested for illegal wiretapping before, and he is sure that she bugged Tae-jun and has the crucial evidence they need to turn the case around. I-soo texts Gang-hyun during the briefing on the case and asks her to hold Tae-jun since he is the killer. Gang-hyun tries to delay Tae-jun as long as she can, but I-soo arrives at the last minute before Tae-jun leaves the police station. He has a recording of a call between Tae-jun and his mother asking her to kill In-a, frame Tae-young for it, and sacrifice herself. If she does so, they will eliminate their competitors and take the company.
Later, I-soo calls his assistant and asks him to prepare his own house, which has no connection to Hansu Group since he is moving out. He meets up with his brother and asks why he was kind to him. He thinks that if it were in the Cheon family, he would be dead by now. Seung-jun says that even though he hated him, he had already lost his mother, and Seung-jun’s mother was treating him badly enough. He became kind to I-soo out of pity, but he is glad he grew up well. Meanwhile, his father’s campaign strategists think using I-soo would help with his approval ratings, but he believes I-soo is unreliable.
Gang-hyun visits Chairman Cheon at the hospital and tries to plead with him to hold a funeral for In-a since the morgue will burn her body unattended if no one claims it. The Chairman blames her for screwing over her family and says that he does not have a daughter. Surprisingly, I-soo decides to take responsibility and hold a funeral for In-a.
Later, I-soo receives an invitation to the art gallery of famous artist Noh Young-jae; weirdly, the invitation reads “invitation to death.” Regardless, I-soo, who now has become disciplined enough to wake up as soon as his alarm goes off, attends the event and is welcomed by the screams of the audience only to find Young-jae lying on the gallery floor, a knife sticking out his belly and dead in a pool of blood. Surprisingly, I-soo does not pass out after seeing the body, and he soon takes charge of the case.
The Episode Review
First of all, can we take a moment to appreciate I-soo’s composure when his stepmother was being a bitch. His facial expressions were calm and collected, but you could sense a more profound feeling of pain. Ahn Bo-hyun’s prowess as an actor draws us in at that moment, perfectly portraying a layered facial expression with a smiling face but eyes filled with sadness and agony. Also, what is her problem? Is she worried that I-soo will take the company from Seung-ju? They are a Chaebol family with only two sons. Is the sharing of wealth frowned upon that much in Chaebol families?
The case highlights a significant difference between I-soo and other wealthy Chaebol heirs. While the rest of the silver spoons are spoilt kids who only think about fighting for their father’s inheritance to the point of killing each other, he comes from a humble background and is not a real silver spoon.
Also, we get a glimpse of how the bond between Seung-ju and I-soo developed over time, starting with pity but developing into something more (please, scriptwriters, do not mess with this brotherly bond in the upcoming episodes). I-soo is becoming more confident as a police officer, and the detectives, hopefully, will start to see that he is a valuable member to add to their team.
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